Word game including catapult means and indicia-displaying projectiles

ABSTRACT

Apparatus for playing a word game comprising a number of alphabet letter projectiles, game cards bearing words, and a catapult. The letters are selected from a storage receptacle, and during each player&#39;&#39;s turn, one letter is launched into the air by the catapult. The other game players attempt to recognize and catch the launched letter in midair if that letter is necessary for completion of a game word.

United States Patent Marvin 1. Glass;

Jeffrey D. Breslow, both of Chicago, Ill. 788,514

Jan. 2, 1969 June 1, 197 1 Marvin Glass & Associates Chicago, 111.

Inventors Appl. No. Filed Patented Assignee WORD GAME INCLUDING CATAPULT MEANS AND lNDlClA-DISPLAYING PROJECTILES 3 Claims, 3 Drawing Figs.

U.S. Cl. 273/95, 273/1, 124/4 Int. Cl A63b 7 l/00 Field ofSearch 273/1,135, 95, 144.1; 124/4 References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS J 3,944,780 7/ 1 ilverrnan 273/ l 44( l 3,391,934 7/1968 Ryanetal. 273/95 3,484,105 10/1966 Winston 273/1 FOREIGN PATENTS 899,630 6/1962 Great Britain 273/144 1) OTHER REFERENCES Regal Games Manufacturing Co. Deluxe Bingo Game 3/10/65 Ifn'mary ExaminerRichard C. Pinkham Assistant Examiner-Marvin Siskind Attorneys-James F. Coffee and Gerald M. Newman ABSTRACT: Apparatus for playing a word game comprising a number of alphabet letter projectiles, game cards bearing words, and a catapult. The letters are selected from a storage receptacle, arid during each player's turn, one letter is launched into the air by the catapult. The other game players attempt to recognize and catch the launched letter in midair if that letter is necessary for completion of a game word.

WORD GAME lNCLlUDllNG CATAPULT MEANS AND INDKClA-DISPLAYING PROJECTILES This invention relates in general to games. In particular, this invention relates to word games wherein alphabet letter playing pieces for spelling selected game words are acquired in a novel manner.

In many prior art word games, the playing pieces necessary for spelling, or completing a given game word indicia are randomly selected from a suitable assemblage thereof. These games primarily rely upon the player's luck in choosing playing pieces necessary for completing the word indicia, although they may also exercise the players skill and creativity in forming unusual words from the alphabet letter playing pieces he has previously selected.

The game apparatus of the invention is directed to word games, wherein success is dependent upon the participants ability to quickly recognize and physically retrieve available playing pieces which may be necessary for spelling a given word sequence.

' Accordingly, the game apparatus of the invention comprises a plurality of playing cards bearing word indicia, a launched or catapulted into the air, and a catapult for launching said playing pieces. The game players are expected to recognize and catch those playing pieces which are necessary for completing the word indicia.

Accordingly, theprimary object of this invention is to provide game apparatus wherein the playing pieces are acquired by the game players in a novel manner.

Another object of this invention is to provide game apparatus wherein game playing pieces are launched into the air and caught by a player recognizing-the need for a particular playing piece.

Another object of this invention is to provide game apparatus which'is amusing, entertaining, enjoyable and which exercises the participants ability to quickly recognize game pieces necessary for completing a game objective.

Additional objects of this invention will become apparent to those versed in the game art upon an understanding of the following detailed description of the game apparatus and its rules of play taken in conjunction with accompanying drawings, in which a preferred embodiment of the game apparatus is shown, and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a three dimensional perspective view of the game apparatus, including a projectile catapult l;

FlG. 2 is an enlarged, elevational cross-sectional view of the projectile catapult; and

FIG. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary plan view of a portion of the projectile catapult taken along line 3-3 in FIG. 2.

As shown in FIG. 1 of the drawings, the game apparatus of the invention generally comprises a projectile catapult 10, a

plurality of game playing pieces 14, a container 12 for storing plurality of game cards 16.

As best seen in FIGS. 2 and 3, catapult comprises a flat base having a centrally disposed, integrally formed upright fulcrum 22. An elongated lever arm 24 having a channellike cross section is pivotally. supported on the fulcrum for movement in a vertical plane. The lever arm is preferably supported offcenter so that the arm length between the fulcrum 22 and a catapulb'ng end 26 is slightly greater than the arm length between the fulcrum and a striking end 28. Thus, the lever 'base 20, while the top of the chute is open to provide for movement of a playing piece projectile therethrough. The

chute may be formed integral with the base 20, and a rectangular opening 37 is provided through the base, generally aligned with the chute axis. An opening 38 is also provided through a lower central portion of front wall 30, adjacent the base, which is laterally flanked by downwardly extending front wall portions 39 and 39'.

The lever arm includes a T"-shaped tongue 40 at its catapulting end 26 which is loosely received within confines of the chute walls. Cooperation between tongue 40 and chute walls 39-39 captivates the lever arm relative to the base to prevent longitudinal movement thereof while allowing pivotal freedom of construction of the apparatus, the lever arm need not be captivated or secured to the fulcrum but is rather held in place by its cooperation with the chute walls. Due to the described captivating arrangement, the lever arm must be assembled to the base by passing end 28 sequentially through rectangular openings 37 and 38, until arm tongue 40 is in its normal operating position.

The game cards 16 of the apparatus comprise a plurality of cards similar to a representative card 44 illustrated in FIG. 1'. The cards may be fabricated of a flat, stiff material such as thin, hard, pressboard or plastic and may even be laminated or plastic coated for greater durability.

The face sides of the cards each include a word indicia formed of alphabet letters, and may also include a colorful background illustration forenhancing the attractiveness of the game. Each of the game cards preferably has a different indicia word having an equal number of letters, such as four letters. The words may be real words or they may be meaningless words such as the meaningless word YARP. Thus, when the cards are distributed among the game players, each of the players will be striving to accumulate the same number of alphabet letters to complete a different word. The back sides, (not shown), of cards 16 are unifonnly decorated to prevent the players from differentiating between the cards when they are placed face down.

As also seen in FIG. 1, a plurality of alphabet letter playing pieces or projectiles 14 are provided for use with the game apparatus of the invention. A sufiicient number of playing pieces are provided to enable a number of game players to complete the game words on the cares cards 16. Each playing piece has a letter shape and is constructed of suitable size to be received in chute 32. The letters are catapulted or launched, singly, by placing them in the chute and subsequently imparting a quick, downward blow to end 28 thereby causing rapid upward movement of tongue 40 and the playing piece. As the lever stops abruptly, the velocity and momentum of the playing piece is sufficient to carry it into the air in its given direction of travel.

A container 12 is provided to conveniently hold the playing piece letters which are retrieved therefrom by a player reaching into the container and randomly selecting the number of letters he may desire, in accordance with the rules of the game play. The container,-the catapult and the playing piece projectiles, may be constructed of molded plastic or other suitable material.

In the play of the game, the game cards are initially shuffled and each player selects one card bearing a word indicia, which he keeps concealed and out of view of the remaining game players. Each player then randomly selects two alphabet letter playing pieces 14 from the container, without attempting to select the letters by identifying them by their shapes. The selected letters should be concealed in the hands of the players and should not be exposed to the view of the remaining game players. Each player must discard one of the two selected letter playing pieces by placing the letter in the catapult chute without revealing its shape to the other game players. The letter is subsequently launched or catapulted from the chute by the player by imparting a quick blow to lever arm end 28.

The remaining game players attempt to recognize the letter while it is in midair and those players who recognize the letter they have no need for the particular letter or because they failed to recognize the letter or failed to carry it, the letter is returned to container 14. The letters which a player collects remain on the playing surface exposed to view of the remaining game players, although the face side of the players game card remains concealed.

As the play continues, each game player is allowed to draw one, two or no letters from the container, depending upon his needs and his strategy. However, during each players turn he must discard only one letter via the catapult 10. In order to win a game, the player must accumulate only the number of letters in his word indicia, and must have no extra letters in his possession. Each extra letter in a players possession must be discarded, in turn, by being launched from the catapult.

What has been described is a novel game apparatus for use by a number of game players wherein the players attempt to quickly recognize and catch playing pieces which have been launched into the air.

It is obvious that upon study by those skilled in the art, the disclosed invention may be altered or modified without departing from its inventive concept.

What we claim is:

1. Game apparatus for use by a number of game players comprising: a plurality of indicia bearing game elements distributable to said game players; a plurality of playing piece projectiles related to said game element indicia; and catapult means for launching said projectiles into the air, whereby each of said game players may attempt to catch the launched pro- 5 jectiles related to the indicia of the players game element,

said catapult means comprise a base carrying a pivotally mounted lever arm having a striking end and a catapulting end; a generally upstanding chute receiving said catapulting end and loosely receiving and concealing said projectiles, one at a time, so that said projectiles are supported on said catapulting end, whereby a blow imparted to said striking end causes movement of said catapulting end thereby propelling said projectiles out of said chute and into the air.

2. The game apparatus as set forth in claim 1 wherein said game elements comprise game cards bearing letter indicia forming words, and wherein said playing piece projectiles comprise alphabet letters for spelling said words.

3. The game apparatus as set forth in claim 2 further including: a receptacle for storing said alphabet letters, and wherein said game players randomly select said alphabet letters from said container for spelling said game card words, and wherein said game cards are randomly distributed to said game players. 

1. Game apparatus for use by a number of game players comprising: a plurality of indicia bearing game elements distributable to said game players; a plurality of playing piece projectiles related to said game element indicia; and catapult means for launching said projectiles into the air, whereby each of said game players may attempt to catch the launched projectiles related to the indicia of the players'' game element, said catapult means comprise a base carrying a pivotally mounted lever arm having a striking end and a catapulting end; a generally upstanding chute receiving said catapulting end and loosely receiving and concealing said projectiles, one at a time, so that said projectiles are supported on said catapulting end, whereby a blow imparted to said striking end causes movement of said catapulting end thereby propelling said projectiles out of said chute and into the air.
 2. The game apparatus as set forth in claim 1 wherein said game elements comprise game cards bearing letter indicia forming words, and wherein said playing piece projectiles comprise alphabet letters for spelling said words.
 3. The game apparatus as set forth in claim 2 further including: a receptacle for storing said alphabet letters, and wherein said game players randomly select said alphabet letters from said container for spelling said game card words, and wherein said game cards are randomly distributed to said game players. 